CLOSING BELL: Stocks steady at beginning of jam-packed week

Monday

Mar 13, 2017 at 4:46 PMMar 13, 2017 at 4:46 PM

This upcoming week is full of events that could swing markets: The Federal Reserve may raise interest rates, more countries around the world may move to shake up the economic status quo and several high-profile updates on the U.S. economy are due.

The Associated Press

NEW YORK — Stocks held steady in a calm day of trading Monday, but the storm may be coming.

This upcoming week is full of events that could swing markets: The Federal Reserve may raise interest rates, more countries around the world may move to shake up the economic status quo and several high-profile updates on the U.S. economy are due.

That's all in the near future, though. Monday's calendar was decidedly light, and the Standard & Poor's 500 index flipped between modest gains and losses before closing at 2,373.47, up just 0.87 points, just 0.04 percent. It remains within 1 percent of its record, which was set earlier this month.

The Dow Jones industrial average fell 21.50 points, or 0.1 percent, to 20,881.48. The Nasdaq rose 14.06 points, or 0.2 percent, to 5,875.78. Three stocks rose for every two that fell on the New York Stock Exchange.

In such a hectic week, one event still stands out from the rest: the Federal Reserve's meeting on interest rates, which begins Tuesday and ends Wednesday. Most investors expect the Fed to raise rates for only the third time since they went to nearly zero during the financial crisis in 2008.

Usually, rising interest rates are bad news for stocks because they make borrowing more expensive and can be a drag on economic growth. But many analysts say this time may be different. As long as the pace is gradual, these increases will only be getting rates back to normal rather than slamming the brakes on the economy.

It was only a few weeks ago that many investors were expecting the Fed to stand pat at its March meeting and then raise rates later in the spring. But expectations have swung following a series of strong reports on the economy. The headliner was Friday's jobs report, which showed healthy levels of hiring.

The yield on the 10-year Treasury note rose to 2.61 percent from 2.58 percent late Friday and is approaching its highest level since 2014. The two-year yield rose to 1.37 percent from 1.35 percent, while the 30-year yield climbed to 3.21 percent from 3.16 percent.

The Fed isn't the only central bank meeting on interest rates this week. So are the Bank of England, Bank of Japan and others around the world.

The dollar largely held steady against its rivals. It dipped to 114.77 Japanese yen from 114.78 yen late Friday. The euro fell to $1.0660 from $1.0692, and the British pound rose to $1.2231 from $1.2177.

The price of a barrel of benchmark U.S. crude oil fell 9 cents to close at $48.40 a barrel. Brent crude, which is used to price international oils, slipped 2 cents to close at $51.35 a barrel in London. In other energy trading, wholesale gasoline fell 2 cents to $1.58 a gallon, heating oil was little changed at $1.50 a gallon and natural gas rose 3.5 cents to $3.043 per 1,000 cubic feet.

Gold rose $1.70 to settle at $1,203.10 an ounce, silver rose 5 cents to $16.97 an ounce and copper rose 3 cents to $2.63 a pound.